Now that the weather is a bit cooler, it is the ideal time to get outside. Walking regularly at a pace brisk enough that you can just hold a conversation cuts your risk of a range of chronic health conditions. Walking may help to slow down the aging process, and it works no matter what age you get started. Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life. It is an antidepressant, it improves cognitive function, and there is now evidence that it may retard the onset of dementia. Part of what makes walking so beneficial is that when you’re walking you can’t be sitting. Research even shows getting up and walking around for two minutes out of every hour can increase your lifespan by 33 per cent, compared to those who do not. Walking for at least an hour or two daily could cut a man’s stroke risk by as much as one-third, and it doesn’t matter how brisk the pace is. Walking is even known to improve sleep, support your joint health, improve circulation, and reduce the incidence of disability in those over 65. The very act of walking is beneficial, as it’s a fundamental movement of the human body. If you’re just starting out on a walking program (after being mostly sedentary), walk at a comfortable pace and work gradually on increasing your pace and distance. Once you’ve eased into a daily walk, you can turn it into a high-intensity workout of sorts, which may be especially beneficial if you’re elderly or unable to engage in other forms of high-intensity workouts. If you get impatient about the amount of time you’re wasting while you walk, learn to more than one thing at a time. Could you read a book perhaps? What about walking barefoot and without a shirt on at the beach, to get your sun exposure at the same time. Multi-tasking is good. Walking actually burns the same amount of calories as running… it just takes longer. But since walking isn't exactly exercise, you can do it every day without needing any recovery days for your body to repair and regenerate; it doesn't tear down your body much, so it doesn’t require recovery time.

Left, right: Why walking is important

Walking is even known to improve sleep, support your joint health, improve circulation, and reduce the incidence of disability in those over 65.

Now that the weather is a bit cooler, it is the ideal time to get outside.

Walking regularly at a pace brisk enough that you can just hold a conversation cuts your risk of a range of chronic health conditions.

Walking may help to slow down the aging process, and it works no matter what age you get started.

Exercise buys you three to seven additional years of life.

It is an antidepressant, it improves cognitive function, and there is now evidence that it may retard the onset of dementia.

Part of what makes walking so beneficial is that when you’re walking you can’t be sitting.

Research even shows getting up and walking around for two minutes out of every hour can increase your lifespan by 33 per cent, compared to those who do not.

Walking for at least an hour or two daily could cut a man’s stroke risk by as much as one-third, and it doesn’t matter how brisk the pace is.

Walking is even known to improve sleep, support your joint health, improve circulation, and reduce the incidence of disability in those over 65.

The very act of walking is beneficial, as it’s a fundamental movement of the human body.

If you’re just starting out on a walking program (after being mostly sedentary), walk at a comfortable pace and work gradually on increasing your pace and distance.

Once you’ve eased into a daily walk, you can turn it into a high-intensity workout of sorts, which may be especially beneficial if you’re elderly or unable to engage in other forms of high-intensity workouts.

If you get impatient about the amount of time you’re wasting while you walk, learn to more than one thing at a time.

Could you read a book perhaps? What about walking barefoot and without a shirt on at the beach, to get your sun exposure at the same time. Multi-tasking is good.

Walking actually burns the same amount of calories as running… it just takes longer.

But since walking isn't exactly exercise, you can do it every day without needing any recovery days for your body to repair and regenerate; it doesn't tear down your body much, so it doesn’t require recovery time.